It'll never be "done," per se, but the Climbing FAQ many of you have been clamoring for is officially open for business.

The Dead Horse Graveyard is a work in perpetuity that will catalog many of those threads that illicit responses such as "Do a search!" Currently, the DHG has categories for general climbing stuff (like ratings), general safety (such as belaying) and gear. In many cases, the answer to questions like, "what kind of shoes are good for a beginner?" are there for the reading, but where it made sense (and if we had the discussions already in place), I've included links to more info, good debates, etc.

Going forward, mods have the authority to redirect and lock threads that the DHG covers well. (Minus the locking part, you guys should feel free to do so, as well. PLEASE do so as well!) However, they also have the authority to use their judgment. If they get to the thread late and there's already decent discussion, they might leave it. If they think the topic is slightly -- but sufficiently -- off what the DHG covers, they might also leave it. In other words, please don't expect blanket thread locking every time something resembles what's in the DHG. Mods also have the authority to moderate any thread linked to in the DHG as though it were in a blue forum.

If you have suggestions for things to add to the DHG, feel free to put them here in this thread, which I'll eventually move to S&F. It would be helpful if you wrote a little something along the lines of an answer and VERY helpful if you include links to pre-existing threads that already cover the topic well.

One criticism: The link to the Gripped article under the topic "How do I get my draws back after a sport climb?" discusses a single method of threading sport anchors, which will work on only a minority of beginner sport climbs; namely, those with rings large enough to accommodate a bight of rope. Furthermore, although the article disclaims it in a caption set in microtype, the photograph shows the climber clipped to the anchor with only a single draw. Since experience on this website suggests that the typical beginning climber can neither read nor write, a beginner relying on this article is likely to mimic the setup in the picture, if he's lucky enough to have ascended to anchors with sufficiently large rings. If he's unlucky enough to find himself facing, say, chain anchors, he may have no idea what to do. Either way, this article was a poor choice to link to.

One criticism: The link to the Gripped article under the topic "How do I get my draws back after a sport climb?" discusses a single method of threading sport anchors, which will work on only a minority of beginner sport climbs; namely, those with rings large enough to accommodate a bight of rope. Furthermore, although the article disclaims it in a caption set in microtype, the photograph shows the climber clipped to the anchor with only a single draw. Since experience on this website suggests that the typical beginning climber can neither read nor write, a beginner relying on this article is likely to mimic the setup in the picture, if he's lucky enough to have ascended to anchors with sufficiently large rings. If he's unlucky enough to find himself facing, say, chain anchors, he may have no idea what to do. Either way, this article was a poor choice to link to.

Jay

I debated putting a link to anything in there. I'll look around for something better, or remove it entirely, if I can't find anything. (If you know of anything off hand, point it out to me.)

One criticism: The link to the Gripped article under the topic "How do I get my draws back after a sport climb?" discusses a single method of threading sport anchors, which will work on only a minority of beginner sport climbs; namely, those with rings large enough to accommodate a bight of rope. Furthermore, although the article disclaims it in a caption set in microtype, the photograph shows the climber clipped to the anchor with only a single draw. Since experience on this website suggests that the typical beginning climber can neither read nor write, a beginner relying on this article is likely to mimic the setup in the picture, if he's lucky enough to have ascended to anchors with sufficiently large rings. If he's unlucky enough to find himself facing, say, chain anchors, he may have no idea what to do. Either way, this article was a poor choice to link to.

Jay

I debated putting a link to anything in there. I'll look around for something better, or remove it entirely, if I can't find anything. (If you know of anything off hand, point it out to me.)

I don't know of a link. Maybe the thing to do is to write an article from scratch, and link to that.

One criticism: The link to the Gripped article under the topic "How do I get my draws back after a sport climb?" discusses a single method of threading sport anchors, which will work on only a minority of beginner sport climbs; namely, those with rings large enough to accommodate a bight of rope. Furthermore, although the article disclaims it in a caption set in microtype, the photograph shows the climber clipped to the anchor with only a single draw. Since experience on this website suggests that the typical beginning climber can neither read nor write, a beginner relying on this article is likely to mimic the setup in the picture, if he's lucky enough to have ascended to anchors with sufficiently large rings. If he's unlucky enough to find himself facing, say, chain anchors, he may have no idea what to do. Either way, this article was a poor choice to link to.

Jay

I debated putting a link to anything in there. I'll look around for something better, or remove it entirely, if I can't find anything. (If you know of anything off hand, point it out to me.)

I don't know of a link. Maybe the thing to do is to write an article from scratch, and link to that.